Wednesday, July 18, 2012

IELTS Writing Task 2: idea and paragraph

My students and I followed the advice in last week's lesson to write a paragraph for the topic below.

The number of plants and animals is declining. Describe the problem and suggest some solutions.

Ideas for describing the problem:

over-farming, land needed for crops and animals

cutting down trees destroys natural habitats, animals become extinct

industrial waste in rivers, sea

chemicals kill fish and plants, interrupt natural cycles / food chain

It seemed that we had 2 main ideas, so we wrote a 2-idea paragraph:

There are two main reasons why plants and animals are disappearing. Firstly, in many parts of the world trees are being cut down to make way for farmland on which to grow crops and keep animals. The result of this is that natural habitats are being destroyed, and in some cases whole species of animals are becoming extinct. Secondly, human activity is also responsible for the destruction of aquatic life as domestic and industrial waste is pumped into rivers and seas. This chemical waste kills plants and fish, interrupting natural cycles and having a devastating effect on food chains.

hi， Simon,
I am confused about the word "anti-social"? does anti-social behaviour means unfriendly and impolite behaviour to others, such as issuing offensive statements? or it means sabotage, roiting, vandalism?

To be honest, I think the question should have been a bit clearer (a student gave me this question, and he probably didn't remember it properly). The phrase "describe the problem" is very vague, and you could interpret it in various ways. I chose to write about the causes of the problem, and you would choose to focus on the effects of the problem - both ways are valid because the question doesn't make it clear which one we should choose. In the exam, I think the question will be a lot clearer.

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Hi Jessica,

It is a broad term that covers all of the things you mentioned. It tends to be used most for minor criminal acts, but there's a good list on this page:

Hi Jessica,
Anti social behaviour means-If a person is found in the drunken state in the public place. That id to say, if he behaves in a drunken state. This kind of behaviour will be termed as anti social behaviour.

My ideas, Global warming affects the Earth enormously . We feel the changes it brings, scarcity of food, hotter temperature, extinction of wildlife. These problems we are facing are mainly due to human activities, cutting of trees for example destroys the natural habitat of wildlife that leads to extinction eventually. Another factor is that, industrialization contributed on the decline of plants and animals by improper waste disposal. The companies dumped their waste products in river or sea that as well destroy marine life. We cannot exclude the advent of modern housing that uses a huge lot area like high rise buildings, apartments, condominium, hotels with recreational facilities such as swimming pools, tennis courts to name some. We could also add the steadily increasing number of population. The demand of food is greatly higher than the supply. The solutions to the vast problem of declining number of plants and animals had been long search by scientist, researchers, environmentalist, government and other agencies. I can suggest that human activities that destroy the environtmemt in general must stop. We should think for the future and the next generation. People who had cut trees must replace and plant new trees. A tighter policy or regulations regarding sewage disposal of companies must be implemented. The local government must inspect and a clear waste disposal plan be approved fist before the company is allowed to operate. Another thing is that. Population control must also be of concern especially in poorer countries where scarcity of food is evident. Finally, webcan do small act in our own simple ways. We can segregate our waste, use recyclable materials and be an example to others. Maybe then we can bring back a greener environment for our next kin to come.

Hi,Simon, thanks for your advice.
Since you said it's not that difficult to express my opinion when asked to
discuss both sides. Here is my confusion: what if I agree both sides? Because I think both sides are sensible and not extrem.

Such as :Some people think that children should obey rules or do what their parents and teachers want them to do, but others think that children controlled too much cannot deal with problems well by themselves.
There is no such extrem words like "only" and "must", so do you think can I just discuss both sides of each point and make a conclusion that I agree both sides?? Thanx again~

I recently wrote an exam on 30th June and cleared exam with L-7.5, R-7, W-7, S-7.5 Overall 7.5 . Its all your help, your blog helped me a lot as I was trying individual 7 from long time, your essay structure and weekly exercises helped me to reach my goal thank you so much ,,,,,,,, please continue your blog definitely it will help many students ,,,,,, Thank you once again ,,,

It's 2 words and a number. The question instruction says you are allowed "2 words AND/OR a number", so your answer is fine.

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Hi Nicholas,

There isn't an easy answer to that question. Examiners look for "less common vocabulary". It's difficult to define exactly what this means, and there isn't a list I can give you. Have a look through my lessons to see where I've underlined the good vocabulary. Hopefully you'll get a better idea of what I mean by looking at my examples.

University should accept equal number of male and female student in every subject. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement ?
Some people find it difficult to support the view that universities should take students in equal number of both genders in each subject . this essay shows an argument for and an argument against.
To begin with, some people think that specify the number of boys and girls in a matter could have counter productive effect on the students . On the one hand , the boys are always more interested in some subject more than girls such as math , science , engineering , physics and so on , girl would be more interested in arts , literature , history , archaeology and so on . Therefore, this could make the subject boring for the students and make them not creative .On the other hand , putting the girls in specific subject could be not suitable for them such as subject of sport, lifting the pumps , which require strong muscles .
One of the main arguments for university should have the same number from both gender is that it will be a balance of ideas while studying because of the difference views and vision between girls and boys could lead into new idea. Furthermore, it is argued that the universities should not intervene in specify the number of students in each subject . It would be better if they let every students to choose whatever they like and therefore they become more creative and successful in this subject .
To sum up , some people support the view that universities should take students in equal number of both genders in each subject . However , in my personal view , I tend to think that it depends on the subject they want to study .

To tackle with these problems, governments and every individual's effect is needed. For governments,on one hand, they should implement a tighter regulation on tree-cutting and land-using. On the other hand, they should enforce some projects to help the local companies to recycle or purify their waste. For individuals, we can reduce use of paper and sort our disposal to recyclable ones and unrecyclable ones. In addition, we should increase use of public transport to reduce the influence of green house, which turns out to be one of the reasons of animal extinction.

I would like to know that when the question is asking for causes and solutions for high road traffic volumes, is it possible to write public transportation as the main cause and within that paragraph explaining that public transportation is not punctual, cost of tickets are expensive and not accessible in certain areas - altogether causing high traffic volumes.

With regards to the above comment, my main concern was that the question asked for causes but I stated public transportation as the main cause with supporting issues of public transportation that caused people to travel with their own means.

To tackle with these problems, governments and every individual's effect is needed. For governments,on one hand, they should implement a tighter regulation on tree-cutting and land-using. On the other hand, they should enforce some projects to help the local companies to recycle or purify their waste. For individuals, we can reduce use of paper and sort our disposal to recyclable ones and unrecyclable ones. In addition, we should increase use of public transport to reduce the influence of green house, which turns out to be one of the reasons of animal extinction.

Do you think the coherence is alright? Do you think the ideas are valid?
Please help me

hai simon,
at it is not possible for you to check every essay posted here.However,I believe that if other members of this blog help each other by correcting and analyzing others work,then everyone will improve in their english language proficiency in lesser time.
This is just an opinion which i think practcal and possible.

In your topic sentence I saw the phrase "plants and animals are disappearing". Is it a good idea to repeat the key words "plants and animals" as in the question? I've been told by some other teachers that we should use other words to substitute.

Last time, when I was practicing about "fixed punishment", I stuck in this phrase and could not find more substitutions.

This caused huge problems for me. When I am writing, I spent long time trying to find similar words .

It's often better to repeat one or two key words from the question because you risk changing the meaning if you use something different. I chose to repeat 'plants and animals' for this reason. I think many people worry so much about finding synonyms that they waste time and end up using strange words that don't really mean the same thing as the words in the question.

here are some reasons of animals spieces and plants's destruction like
.reckless cutting of trees
.destorying the naturals habitats by hamans for farmlands,factories,bulidings
.increasing pollution it causes various dieases
.environmental diasters such as earthquaks,droughts,flood and so on
involvements of chemicals in sea by the factories
there are some solutions to protect them like
1.to controll the increasing pollution
2.animals should'nt use for experiments
3.to inspire public to grow more plants

Could you tell me if there are two questions, such as the causes and solutions, I should write one paragraph for causes and one for solutions, or 2 paragraphs for causes and in the last conclusion paragraph mention some solutions?

I practice writing paragraphs as mentioned in your material purchased. Could you have a look and provide me comments. Thank you very much.

Positives of advertising
Advertising has several benefits (1). Firstly, advertising is a key part of modern business, meaning that it can be used to introduce customers about products of manufactures (2). A practical example of this is advertisements posted on daily newspapers often provide detailed information such as name of producers, origin, specifications or functions of their products (3). Secondly, advertising is a creative industry that employs many people, thus contributing to reduce unemployment rate (4). Finally, it is also considered as a form of modern art, which may bring numerously peculiar short movies with intentional messages to consumers (5). As a result of such advantages, people enjoy adverts (6).

Negatives

On the other hand, opponents of advertising worry about its detrimental effects (1). They argue that advertisers often manipulate people (2). Proving consumers financial incentives such as cheap price or increasing quantity rather than quality is a typical example of this (3). Apart from the meretricious benefits, advertisement creators mostly aim their marketing at children who are easy to be heavily influenced by their adverts (4). The group put pressure on their parents to purchase requested items. (5)

I've been reading through your blog and found many helpful strategies.

I have some few questions though.

1. Im taking my IELTS in NZ and in the writing exam does it have to have an indention at the beginning of every paragraph? ( introduction, 1 and 2 paragraph, conclusion). Or is it ok even without indention but to put spaces every after paragraph?.

2. If you write on the wrong side of the paper is it an automatic failed for not following instructions?.